Spatial Dynamics of Adolescent-led Initiatives and their Influence on Gender Norms around Child Marriage in Rural Rajasthan
Objectives
This study investigates how adolescent-led initiatives influence entrenched gender norms and attitudes toward child marriage in rural Rajasthan. Despite decades of legal and advocacy efforts, child marriage persists due to socio-cultural beliefs, caste hierarchies, and economic vulnerabilities.
The research adopts a quasi-experimental design across three districts (Sirohi, Jalore, and Pali), comparing intervention clusters where adolescents organized peer education, leadership workshops, and community campaigns, with control clusters lacking such programs. A total of 320 respondents (160 adolescents and 160 mothers) were surveyed using validated scales on self-efficacy, gender norms, and marriage attitudes. The study is grounded in social norms theory, social learning theory, self-efficacy models, and spatial diffusion theory, emphasizing how geography mediates normative change.
The objectives were: (1) to analyze spatial and socio-economic trends in adolescent self-efficacy and marriage attitudes; (2) to examine social norms shaping perceptions of child marriage among adolescents, parents, and communities; (3) to assess adolescent involvement in interventions and their perceived role in reshaping norms; and (4) to propose a context-sensitive framework of individual, family, and community-level factors influencing child marriage practices.
Findings
Intervention areas showed significant improvements in adolescents’ self-efficacy and gender-equitable attitudes compared to control sites. Jalore district recorded the strongest gains, followed by Sirohi, while Pali (control) lagged behind.
Statistical analysis confirmed that program exposure enhanced self-efficacy, which in turn mediated shifts in gender norms and marriage attitudes (R² = 0.42). Mothers in intervention clusters also demonstrated parallel improvements, suggesting intergenerational diffusion of normative change. Spatial heat maps revealed clustering of positive outcomes in intervention districts, highlighting localized diffusion rather than random distribution.
Overall, adolescent leadership proved effective in challenging patriarchal norms, shifting decision-making authority from community elders to families, and promoting delayed marriage ideals.
Recommendations
The study recommends tailoring adolescent empowerment programs to regional contexts, recognizing spatial heterogeneity in Rajasthan.
Interventions should strengthen adolescent self-efficacy as a mediating factor for normative change, while ensuring intergenerational engagement to sustain diffusion within families. Programs must integrate peer-led education, leadership training, and community campaigns, but adapt strategies to district-specific socio-cultural realities. Policy frameworks should move beyond uniform enforcement, adopting geographically adaptive approaches that account for caste, poverty, and local infrastructures. Strengthening adolescent agency and embedding them as change agents, rather than passive beneficiaries, is critical.
Finally, scaling such initiatives requires collaboration between NGOs, youth clubs, and government schemes, ensuring that adolescent voices shape advocacy and that interventions are embedded in community structures for long-term sustainability.
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